OAKLAND, Calif. – The New Orleans Pelicans scored 140 points on Wednesday night. It was the fourth time this season they’ve hit that mark.

The team also hit 19 3-pointers, tying a franchise record. They also scored at least 30 points in every quarter. Four players had at least 23 points.

And still, it meant defeat.

The offense was hitting on all cylinders for most of the night, but the problem was, so was the offense for Golden State in a 147-140 win for the Warriors.

“That is why they are a championship team,” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said about the two-time defending champions. “I don’t think there was anything wrong in the way we played. Usually when you score 140 points and make 19 three’s, you have a chance to win the game. We were right there but we just didn’t make a couple of plays down the stretch.”

The Pelicans led for most of the first three quarters but saw a 17-point lead evaporate thanks to the Warriors potent offense. Golden State took a 110-109 lead heading into the fourth quarter thanks to a three-point play by Andre Iguodala.

Despite 30 points, 18 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks from Anthony Davis – as well as 29 points from Nikola Mirotic, 25 points from Jrue Holiday and 23 points from Julius Randle – the Warriors had just a tad bit more offensive firepower.

Golden State’s 147 points were the most ever scored against a Pelicans team in franchise history and Stephen Curry was a major factor in that. During a 44-point third quarter – the most the Pelicans have ever allowed in a third quarter – Curry showed why he is a two-time MVP and a three-time NBA champion.

Curry put on a dazzling display in the third quarter on his was to 23 points in the frame, complete with seven 3-pointers, each one seemingly increasing the decibel levels inside Oracle Arena.

“It’s very hard to guard him,” Mirotic said. “He is the best shooter in the history of basketball and like I said before we were doubling him with two guys on the ball.

“Anthony is a huge guy but it didn’t matter, Steph was in the zone. It was after every dribble when he hit a long shot. There is nothing we could’ve done. We wanted him to pass the ball, but he kept shooting and was hot. He did what he needed to do, and it was a great performance by him.”

Curry finished with 41 points, but he had a little help from his friends as well. Kevin Durant finished with 30 points and 15 rebounds while Klay Thompson had 19 points. It was the fifth time this season the trio had combined for 90 points in a single game with the Warriors improving to 5-0 in those contests.

Draymond Green, who had been shooting 23.9 percent from three-point range, stepped up with a season-high four 3-pointers as he had 17 points, 14 assists and six rebounds.

“They made really tough shots, the shots that Steph made were not wide-open shots, and they were challenge shots. He made them,” Gentry said. “We had to give something, so we forced Draymond to be a shooter and he made them.”

Golden State tied a franchise record with 24 3-pointers, equaling a mark it set earlier this season against Chicago. But it wasn’t just the shooting that led them to victory.

Holiday pointed to the 45 fast-break points the Warriors racked up as a key to the win, and something the Pelicans can look to stop in the future.

“In transition we need to stop them and slow them down, they probably had (45) points in transition,” Holiday said. “If we can lock that in that could’ve been a different story.”

The Pelicans did their best to hold off the Warriors but, in the end, fell to the team leading the Western Conference. Now, the Pelicans, sitting at No. 12 in the West, have to regroup before Friday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers.

“It’s basketball,” Holiday said. “That’s how it goes. We were also up 10 or 15 against them. You have the championship Warriors doing what they do and shooting. It’s a fun game to play, we knew it was going to be up and down. The momentum was going to switch.